Anthrobotic.com

NEW VIDEO: DARPA Robotics Challenge, Track A – Meet the Big 6 for December

Jul 142013

DARPA’s New Video Intro for the December 2013 DRC Contestants
With a soundtrack affirming DARPA’s commitment to waste exactly zero funds on marketing (see also: DRC Logo; it’s good/bad – depends on the taxpayer), here we have video on the six B.Y.O.R. Track A teams.

The various robots are in various states of repair/progress, but they’ve got until December to get squared away. Some, as you’ll see (not pointing any fingers, NASA), are much further along than others.

These six teams, unique in that they’ve developed their own machines and software, will be competing with the 7 winners from the Virtual Robotics Challenge (who’ll get an ATLAS robot), and a yet to be determined number from Track D.

Have a watch:

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A few static photos for those wanting… static photos:

Read the Whole Thing ➤

July 14, 2013 Posted by anthrobotic at 11:12 PM Artificial Intelligence, Boston Dynamics, DARPA, DARPA Robotics Challenge, HUBO, Military Robotics, Multimedia, NASA, NASA JPL, Robot, RoMeLa, Technology, WarBots

Need More Japanese Women! (in science, technology, engineering, & mathematics)

Jul 122013

Japan’s Shrinking Population is a Big Problem… Science It!
Since Anthrobotic’s love of Japan-related social and technological statistics is (probably) not broadly shared among the 7-8 regular readers, we’re going to go ahead and speed right past all the whys and just drop these three nuggets of info:

A. Statistically, about 1.2 children are born to each Japanese woman.
A rate of 2 is necessary for population stasis.

B. A post-war and post-post-war baby boom means contemporary Japan is full of elderly
people. They are aging, need care for a long while, and eventually they will pass.

C. The Japanese are not at all interested in large-scale immigration.
Powerfully, very not at all interested.

Japan’s in a deep demographic debacle, and both keeping women out of science AND getting more women into science present some sticky existential quandaries. What to do, what to do? Well, there is an answer, and like many things sociological, while obvious, it just doesn’t make sense until someone points at it and says:
“Hey, hey YOU! Look at this and understand why it’s this way and fixit STAT!“

While not included in the discussion, that’s what specifically social sciences do – give context and face to the parts of human life than seem obvious when, or rather, if one actually takes a moment to think about them; it’s the art and science of pointing out the glaringly obvious that never gets proper noticed.
And once you do, it’s like having magic info.

Sociology is basically straight-faced stand-up comedy without the comedy.

So, Anthrobotic’s Chief Maintenance Engineer did some stand-up sociology on the issue of Japan’s big-ass population problem and how sciencey J-girls can, no – MUST help fix it. It’s over at Akihabara News, and you are commanded to read it. Because for every person who reads this far and doesn’t click through, a J-Girl will shed a tear.

And then throw a dorky, meaningless peace sign.
And okay yeah, likely she’ll look good doing it.
Because of the Out of Cultural Context pass.

Ohhh, you see that?
That right there was sociology, son!

Japanese Science & Engineering:
STEM Needs More Women, But Japan Needs More Children
via Akihabara News

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July 12, 2013 Posted by anthrobotic at 8:20 PM Aging Society, AkihabaraNews.com, Asia, Existential Quandary Stuff, Future Already Very Pending, Japan 日本 Tekk, Japanese Robots, Japan「日本」, Pure Science, Shameful Self-Promotion, Shameless Self-Promotion, Technology, Technology & Culture, Technology & Labor

Kids Making Robots: An NPO Steps Up to Bolster Japan’s Rural Robot Resurgence

Jul 052013

Even Japan Needs Help With (some kinds of) STEM
Japan consistently ranks in the world’s top 10, if not top 5 of across several areas of standardized educational focus; the nation performs particularly well in math and science – sometimes hitting #1 – and that’s awesome and great for them. Apparently, endless rote memorization dictated by an I-Talk-You-Listen Confucian-style authority figure, the de-facto means of imparting knowledge over here, serves well in certain fields. Might sound a bit harsh, but still… it’s like, you know, true.

Now, when it comes to speaking foreign languages and fostering creativity, confidence, and original thinking, such bloated, top-heavy systems are, by and large, for shit. Ex: Japanese primary & secondary school curricula have for decades required English as a foreign language, to be studied for for no fewer than 6 six years (pre-university). However, in terms of statistical significance, effectively no one in Japan can speak English. Oh, and as for the creativity, confidence, and original thinking, look no further than: Sony, Panasonic, Sharp, and Olympus.

Point being, on one hand there’s a river great success – Japan deserves all props for its educational, and therefore industrial and economic achievements – but on the other hand, there is a still pool slowly collecting dust, garbage, the occasional dying insect, etc.

That stagnant pool of anti-creativity is where programs like the NPO Hito Project’s Robot Summer School step in and turn on a fire hose! Anthrobotic’s Chief Flabber Gaster has put together some information on this over at Akihabara News, so jump on over and get the details – perhaps even get a model for starting up a robotics, engineering, and programming summer school in your community.

Oh, and all kinds of love for you, dear Japan.
Just, you know, get it together, son!

ROBOT.SUMMER.SCHOOL.MINDSTORMS.ANTHROBOTIC

[JAPANESE ROBOTS: KIDS’S SUMMER SCHOOL – AKIHABARA NEWS]

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July 5, 2013 Posted by anthrobotic at 9:33 AM AkihabaraNews.com, Asia, Japan 日本 Tekk, Japanese Robots, Japan「日本」, Pure Science, Robot, Robot Toys, Shameful Self-Promotion, Shameless Self-Promotion, Technology, Technology & Education

Japanese Technology from the Future Friday [via Akihabara News]

Jun 292013

Welcome to Japanese Technology from the Future Friday!
It’s already Friday west of the international dateline – here in Japan, it’s totally the future. The weekly JTFF is our somewhat technosnarky coverage of 2-5 particularly important, specifically Japan-related tech stories. Get yourself hip to the micro & macro that went down while North America was sleeping – check in every Friday morning and BOOM! Ahead of the game, you win.

Why Japan and J-Tech?
First, Anthrobotic has geographical superiority. In the future.
Second, Japan has lots of super hott (and odd) technology stuff going on.
Third, deliciously cathartic opportunities make fun of the Japanese invariably crop up.

:: JTFF – June 28, 2013 ::

• Sony Sold Some Stuff to Iran, and America Maybe Doesn’t Like That
In efforts disappointingly not focused on unloading what must be millions of warehoused PSPs and the most unusable of the now 67 different production models of their VAIO computers, Sony probably sold some stuff to Iran that American sanctions aim to prohibit. Whatever your feelings on the sanction stuff might be, we can probably all agree on the righteousness of chastising Sony for putting any effort at all into selling an extra $12.8 million bucks of potentially risk-heavy contraband for a measly $500,000 profit. Sony, is that really where you should pay any attention at all given that you’re losing billions every year? Maybe things wouldn’t be going so bad if you just kept working on those AWESOME ROBOTS that you killed a few years back. Just sayin. Get it together, Sony.
[SONY ADMITS SELLING TECH TO IRAN – TELEGRAPH UK]

• South-East Asia Japan Cable Completed – Just Know That and You’re Good
This is one of those stories where the average dude really doesn’t need to know any of the details, just the headline: The Internet in Asia Just Got a Little More Badass. Not good enough? Okay fine – if you must know: “The SJC cable consists of six fibre pairs (64×40Gbps DWDM), with an initial design capacity of over 15Tbps, upgradable to 23Tbps, and utilises the state-of-the-art advanced 40G SLTE and Optical add-drop multiplexer (OADM) Branching technologies.” See. Told you so.
[SJC COMPLETED – TELEGEOGRAPHY]

• Political Warning: Don’t Mess With the Peace-By-Law Article 9 vis-à-vis Nuclear Tech
Nobody wants to learn too much about Japanese politics (including the Japanese people), but this is interesting. The JTFF has for weeks now been covering Japan’s liberal sharing/selling of its nuclear energy technology across the middle east, international cooperation agreements, etc., and now it’s come up in politics as it relates to Article 9 of Japan’s “Peace Constitution.” Article 9 represents the condemnation and forbiddance of developing an offensive-capable military force (things went bad with that before, you might recall). Anyway, could lead to fissures between normally friendly political allies. See – that’s the thing – you gotta appreciate that technology, the most fundamental pursuit of the human animal, can shake up… well, anything. Oh, the Peace Constitution also comes into play with robot stuff, too – so if all this sounds pretty dry, go read about why Japan has to tip-toe into the DARPA Robotics Challenge.
[JAPAN’S NUCLEAR TECH SHARING COULD SPUR POLITICAL NASTINESS – JAPAN TIMES]

• • •

That was the JTFF, originally an original Anthrobotic.com series,
now served up via Akihabara News – and live from the future, that is all!

• • •

June 29, 2013 Posted by anthrobotic at 1:03 AM AkihabaraNews.com, Asia, Energy Technology, Environmental Technology, Here First or Best Here, Internet, Internet Stuff, Japan 日本 Tekk, Japanese Technology from the Future Friday, Japan「日本」, Nuclear Stuff, Shameful Self-Promotion, Shameless Self-Promotion, Technology, Technology & Politics

Japanese Technology from the Future Friday [via Akihabara News]

Jun 222013

Welcome to Japanese Technology from the Future Friday!
It’s already Friday west of the international dateline – here in Japan, it’s totally the future. The weekly JTFF is our somewhat technosnarky coverage of 2-5 particularly important, specifically Japan-related tech stories. Get yourself hip to the micro & macro that went down while North America was sleeping – check in every Friday morning and BOOM! Ahead of the game, you win.

:: JTFF – June 21, 2013 ::

• Japan and Europe Letting American Space Stuff Join the Roadtrip to Mercury
The planet nearest the gigantic nuclear fusion reaction at the center of our solar system will get two new satellites several years from now – one from Europe, one from Japan – jointly known as the pretty-fun-to-say BepiColombo mission. These two and their luggage were going to ride alone on a single rocket, but then America crashed the party and was all like “Hey guys – HEY! If you take some science stuff I’ll give you like… $32 million bucks!” Japan and Europe obliged.
[NASA’S STROFIO INSTRUMENT GOING TO MERCURY ON JAXA/ESA MISSION – DISCOVERY NEWS]

• Tokyo Court Sides with Apple Over Samsung – Less Than Nobody Surprised
Not surprisingly, last summer Apple beat Samsung in the U.S. theater of the also-pretty-fun-to-say Global Mobile Patent Wars, and now, here in the world’s 3rd or 2nd largest economy (debatable), Apple wins again. It’s useless to go into the details, nobody really cares all that much about the minutiae – we just wanna know who wins and can we still buy our iPhones or Galaxies. Now, compu-gadgetry giant Apple does need healthy competition, but most people can clearly see that that Samsung saw a good thing and wanted a taste. And come on now, it’s not like mainland East Asia doesn’t have a history of, ummm… sincere flattery?
[JAPAN LIKES APPLE BETTER THAN SAMSUNG – SEATTLE TIMES]

• RAV4 EV: Toyota/Tesla Lovechild
Automotive giant Toyota’s partnership with relative upstart Tesla has produced it’s first fruit: the Toyota RAV4 EV. This is just a review of the vehicle and commentary on how it bodes for Tesla’s upcoming electric SUV. There is no mention in the article of how MOST ELECTRICITY STILL COMES FROM FOSSIL FUELS SO ELECTRIC VEHICLES CURRENTLY DO A NET NOTHING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT. Okay, sure – gotta start somewhere, but still – journalists should be required to point this out in gigantic bold italic print every time they cover electric cars. At least, you know, instill that in people’s minds (particularly useful for the hard-of-thinking anti-nuclear contingent).
[TOYOTA’S ELECTRIC RAV4EV IS A TESLA – WIRED REVIEW]

• American DRAM Inventor Awarded the Kyoto Prize for Electronics
For the modestly dorky, which includes most of us, there’s really no need to know what exactly DRAM is – just know that it’s a kind of computer memory, and it’s really goddamn important to basically every facet of life in the developed world. It’s just one of those things that, even if you explain it super clearly, the listener will forget in just a few minutes – this will result in exactly zero negative consequences for the rest of the listener’s life. Sometimes, correlation is indeed causality. A Anyway, congratulations to IBM’s Robert Dennard, who patented his idea way back in 1968.
[DRAM INVENTOR ROBERT DENNARD, HONORED IN JAPAN – NETWORK WORLD]

• • •

That was the JTFF, originally an original Anthrobotic.com series,
now served up via Akihabara News – and live from the future, that is all!

• • •

June 22, 2013 Posted by anthrobotic at 1:34 AM AkihabaraNews.com, Apple, Asia, Cosmology, Energy Technology, Environmental Technology, Here First or Best Here, IBM, iPhone 5, Japan 日本 Tekk, Japanese Technology from the Future Friday, Japan「日本」, NASA, Shameful Self-Promotion, Shameless Self-Promotion, Space Technology, Technology

Japanese Technology from the Future Friday [via Akihabara News]

Jun 082013

:: JTFF – June 7, 2013 ::

• Japan is a Proliferator of Nuclear Non-Proliferation
(except for Energy tech)
In addition to nuclear energy partnership/tech sharing deals with Turkey and the UAE, Japan is now romancing France with nuclear secrets. Maybe not fair to say it that way, but increased cooperation and tech sharing is a big part of the ongoing infusion of mutual cooperation announced during the French prime minister’s visit. It’s kinda double-dip ironic that whilst they’re sharing nuclear energy tech and co-promoting anti-nuclear weapons proliferation, as part of this new cooperation they’re also inking deals for sharing other kinds of military equipment. As with with most things, there are degrees of severity, one supposes.
[FRANCE & JAPAN PLAY NICE ON SEVERAL FRONTS – WASHINGTON POST VIA AP]

• Fukushima Disaster Unlikely to Cause More Cancer
(but that’s unlikely to quiet the hard of thinking)
Speaking of nuclear stuff, the United Nation’s Scientific Committee on the Effect of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) has determined that radiation pollution from the Fukushima component of the 2011 Tohoku disaster is almost certainly not going to cause increased levels of cancer. That’s some really great news. From the source, Chemistry World:

“Over 80 scientists from 18 countries used observed levels of radiation to estimate people’s exposure over time. After discussing the results at their annual meeting, the committee has concluded that it is unlikely that there will be any detectable health consequences of the accident, as the overall exposure of the Japanese population was low, or very low. It noted that even among highly exposed workers, there have been no radiation-related deaths or acute illnesses.”

But it’s not too convenient for a certain anti-nuclear/pro-environmental movement.
So here’s a fun game to play when you get off the internet:

Find yourself an anti-nuclear energy protestor. Then, ask the individual to count on one hand how many people have died from nuclear energy accidents, maintenance & mishaps, or just general usage, and also add up the environment impact of nuclear energy in the past, ohh… let’s say 20 years.

You’ll notice two things:
1. Your interviewee basically has nothing to count, and 2. Areas of environmental impact aren’t much larger than Disney Land.

Okay, next, on their other hand, ask them count how many people have died in fossil fuel-related accidents in the same time period, and have them get out a map and a pen and draw a big circle around the Gulf of Mexico, and a big circle around the Middle East.

You’ll notice two more things:
1. Your interviewee doesn’t have enough fingers in their entire family to count fossil fuel energy-related deaths, and 2. The Gulf of Mexico, which is what – 10 times the size of Japan, is polluted with crude oil gunk and mutated shrimp. Oh, and the Middle East is… well, the Middle East.

Fossil fuels supply 65-80% of Japan’s energy. But protestors hate on nuclear… Hmm, pick an easy target much?*
[FUKUSHIMA NOT GOING TO CAUSE A BUNCH OF CANCER – CHEMISTRY WORLD]

*It should be noted that, even though he is 500% correct and has crystal-clear, indisputable logic, these opinions on anti-nuclear protestors are exclusively those of the author and do not necessarily reflect any kind of official opinion or position of the website or other contributors or staff at Akihabara News. But they totally and entirely reflect the opinions and platform and official feelings of Anthrobotic.com

And they’re the right opinions. -RJT

That was the JTFF, and live from the future – that is all.

• • •

June 8, 2013 Posted by anthrobotic at 12:42 AM AkihabaraNews.com, Asia, Energy Technology, Environmental Technology, Green Energy Technology, Here First or Best Here, Japan 日本 Tekk, Japanese Technology from the Future Friday, Japan「日本」, News, Nuclear Stuff, Shameful Self-Promotion, Shameless Self-Promotion, Technology, Technology & Environmentalism, Technology & Politics

Japanese Robot Stories: Honda and NHK for the Early June Win!

Jun 072013

NHK Does Robotic Force-Feedback VR & Honda Ships 100 Walk Assist Devices
The end of May/beginning of June saw interesting movement in the world of Japanese robotics (or is it the country of Japanese robotics?). NHK, Japan’s much more tech-focused answer to the U.S.’s PBS, has developed a subtly robotic virtual reality interface (that actually virtualizes the non-real), and Honda has let slip into the wilds of rehab centers 100 of it’s subtly robotic assistive devices.

You Can Read All About It, Yo.
As Anthrobotic’s 5-6 regular readers know, the Chief of Ham Hands around here has been trysting with Akihabara News and plopping out mutant offspring for almost three months now. Luckily(?), you can jump on over and enjoy a moderate dose of Technosnark©®™ applied to some glaringly important coverage of some subtle Japanese robotics developments:

Putting Your Finger in this Japanese Robot is a Step Toward Actual Virtual Reality
While perhaps not a robot in the traditional sense, NHK’s virtual haptic feedback device is a robotic artificial sense of touch generator… aaaand that requires some context to make sense – GO!

Honda Ships 100 Walking Assist Stride Management Wearable Robot Thingys
Honda’s not just a car/ATV/lawnmower, and ASIMO maker, the’ve also got an array of assistive robotics projects – and they just set 100 of their Walking Assist with Stride Management Devices free in Japan – GO!

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June 7, 2013 Posted by anthrobotic at 4:44 PM Aging Society, AkihabaraNews.com, AR, Asia, Augmented Reality, Cybernetics, Exoskeleton, Honda, Human Augmentation, Japan 日本 Tekk, Japanese Robots, Japan「日本」, Medical Robots, Medical Technology, NHK, Robot, Shameful Self-Promotion, Shameless Self-Promotion, Technology, Technology & Art, Technology & Entertainment, Technology & Healthcare, Virtual Reality, VR

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